Method for populating user accounts with profiles of supplements for consumption

ABSTRACT

One variation of a method for populating user accounts with profiles of supplements includes: extrapolating a degree of an effect of a first supplement on a health goal, selected by a user, from a scientific study based on an ingredient of the first supplement selected by the user; presenting, to the user, the degree of the effect; presenting, to the user, a representation of prevalence of the first supplement by demographic within a population of users; presenting, to the user, a set of reviews of the first supplement within the native application submitted by a subset of users within the population associated with user profiles linked to the first supplement for greater than a threshold duration of time; and in response to confirmation of the first supplement profile at the native application, adding a profile for the first supplement profile to a user profile associated with the user.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/052,190, filed on 1 Aug. 2018, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application Nos. 62/547,738, 62/547,741, and 62/547,744, allfiled on 18 Aug. 2017, each of which is incorporated in its entirety bythis reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates generally to the field of health and wellness andmore specifically to a new and useful method for populating useraccounts with profiles of supplements for consumption in the field ofhealth and wellness.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a flowchart representation of a method;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart representation of one variation of the method;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart representation of one variation of the method;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart representation of one variation of the method; and

FIG. 5 is a flowchart representation of one variation of the method.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The following description of embodiments of the invention is notintended to limit the invention to these embodiments but rather toenable a person skilled in the art to make and use this invention.Variations, configurations, implementations, example implementations,and examples described herein are optional and are not exclusive to thevariations, configurations, implementations, example implementations,and examples they describe. The invention described herein can includeany and all permutations of these variations, configurations,implementations, example implementations, and examples.

1. Method

As shown in FIG. 1, a method for populating user accounts with profilesof supplements for consumption includes: initializing a user profile fora user in Block Silo; populating the user profile with demographicinformation of the user in Block S112; populating the user profile witha health goal selected by the user at a native application executing ona computing device in Block S114; in response to selection of a firstsupplement, from a set of known supplements, by the user at the nativeapplication, retrieving a first supplement profile of the firstsupplement in Block S120; extrapolating a degree of an effect of thefirst supplement on the health goal from a scientific study based on aningredient of the first supplement specified in the first supplementprofile in Block S130; rendering a representation of the degree of theeffect with the native application in Block S132; calculating aprevalence of the first supplement by demographic within a population ofusers in Block S140; rendering a representation of prevalence of thefirst supplement by demographic within the native application in BlockS142; rendering a set of reviews of the first supplement within thenative application in Block S150, the set of reviews submitted by asubset of users within the population of users, each user in the subsetof users associated with a user profile linked to the first supplementfor greater than a threshold duration of time; and, in response toconfirmation of the first supplement profile at the native application,adding the first supplement profile to the user profile in Block S160.

2. Applications

The method can be executed by a system including a set of wirelesstrackers, a software program (hereinafter a “native application”)executing on a mobile computing device, and a remote computer systemhosting a user network: to generate a user profile representing a user'scurrent demographics; to receive selection of a supplement that the useris considering consuming on a regular interval (i.e., according to aregimen); and to serve prevalence (or “popularity”) of the supplement bydemographic with a user population, reviews from genuine users of thesupplement, and/or scientific evidence suggesting correlation betweeningredients in the supplement and an outcome to the user to assist theuser in determining whether to add the supplement to her user profile.For example, the native application can: collect a limited amount ofuser data—such as age, gender, body-mass index (or “BMI”), and activitylevel—from information already stored on a mobile computing device(e.g., a smartphone) executing the native application; interface withthe user to receive an indication of the user's interest in a particularsupplement or type of supplement; and then serve guidance to the user inascertaining relevance of the particular supplement or supplement typeto the user based on the user data, demographics of other users within auser population (i.e., the user network) that also consume the samesupplement or supplement type, feedback provided passively and activelyby these other users over time, and results of scientific studies on theparticular supplement or supplement type. By aggregating such datacollected from various sources over time and packaging these data in avisual and easily digestible format, the system can enable the user toquickly ascertain relevance of a particular supplement to her implicitor explicit needs.

Once the user thus confirms her interest in a supplement, the system canadd this supplement to her user profile and then interface with the userto define a regimen for consuming this supplement over time, such as byautomatically retrieving a default recommended regimen for thesupplement, by fusing regimens for the supplement by other users ofvarious demographics similar to those of the user, or by duplicating aregimen from the user account of another user in the user networkselected by the user. The system can then monitor the user's adherenceto this regimen over time based on consumption event detected by atracker transiently installed on a supplement package containing thesupplement. By tracking user's consumption of the supplement from thesupplement package over time, the system can determine that thesupplement package is (nearing) empty and automatically order additionalsupplement for the user or recommend a different, more relevantsupplement to the user based on changes to the user's demographic (e.g.,BMI, sleep quality, etc.) over time.

By thus providing multi-source data suggesting a degree of relevance ofa supplement to the user when the user is first considering thesupplement, tracking the user's adherence to a regimen for thesupplement over time, and then automatically reassessing relevance ofthe supplement to the user at or near completion of a supplement packagebased on new user-specific data, data from users across the network,and/or related identified research, the system can: support the user indeveloping and refining a personal supplement plan; while also ensuringhigh degrees of relevance of multiple supplements in the user's profileto the user's implied needs (e.g., age-, gender-, and BMI-related needs)and explicit needs (e.g., health goals entered manually by the user)over time.

3. System

As described above, Blocks of the method can be executed by a systemincluding a remote computer system (shown in FIG. 3), a nativeapplication (shown in FIG. 4), and a set of trackers (shown in FIG. 5).

3.1 Computer System

As shown in FIG. 3, Blocks of the method can be executed by a remotecomputer system (e.g., a remote server) that hosts a supplement databasecontaining “supplement profiles” of various supplements and supplementtypes and hosts an online social network of supplement users, include auser profile of each user and connections to other user profiles in theonline social network. The remote computer system can also: aggregatepassive and active user feedback and supplement consumption datacollected from user profiles over time; extract trends from these data;and serve these trends to a user to assist the user in determiningwhether to add a supplement to her user profile. The remote computersystem can also distinguish authentic active feedback (e.g., reviews)provided by users based on their historical consumption data forsupplements they have reviewed and selectively provide such authenticfeedback to the user. Furthermore, the remote computer system caninterface with external sources for scientific data related tosupplements and their ingredients and interface with an instance of thenative application executing on the user's mobile computing device toautomatically provide these scientific data to the user in order toassist the user in determining whether to add a supplement to her userprofile.

The remote computer system can therefore: interface with externalsources to collect supplement and related scientific data; and interfacewith users through instances of the native application executing ontheir computing devices to serve relevant supplement data to these usersand to collect user and consumption data from these users, which theremote computer system can then manipulate to provide improved guidanceto each user individually and to the population of users generally overtime.

3.2 Native Application

As shown in FIG. 4, the native application is configured: to execute ona mobile computing device (e.g., a smartphone, a tablet, a smartwatch);to host a portal into an electronic user account; to manage supplementprofiles loaded into the user account by a user; to automaticallyreconfigure trackers installed on supplement packages when correspondingsupplements are added to or updated in the user account; to receiveconsumption event data from these trackers; to load consumption events;and to selectively serve notifications to the user to consume supplementaccording to regimens associated with these supplements in the useraccount.

Additionally or alternatively, the software program can be implementedin a web browser, such as on the user's mobile computing device or at adesktop computer.

3.3 Internal Social Network

As described above, the system can host an internal social network(hereinafter a “user network”) in which a user may: connect withfriends, family members, acquaintances, etc.; form groups with herconnections, such as with her connections that are consuming aparticular supplement; follow other users, such as to view supplementregimens and guidance of other users the user wishes to emulate; etc.through an instance of the native application executing on her mobilecomputing device.

3.4 Tracker

Generally, the tracker is configured to transiently install on asupplement package, to detect consumption events, and to wirelesslytransmit consumption event data to a mobile computing device executingan instance of the native application for logging of consumption eventsin a user account hosted on the native application, as shown in FIG. 5.

In one implementation shown in FIG. 2, the tracker includes: a housing;a memory module arranged in the housing and configured to store motiondata in a buffer and to store a motion model received from the nativeapplication; a touch and/or proximity sensor (e.g., a capacitancesensor) arranged in the housing and configured to detect a (conductive)body in contact with or near the housing; an ambient light sensorarranged in the housing and configured to detect a change in ambientlight around the housing; a motion sensor (e.g., an accelerometer, agyroscope, a tilt sensor, an IMU) arranged in the housing and configuredto output a signal corresponding to movement of the housing; acontroller configured to collect data from the touch sensor, the ambientlight sensor, and/or the motion sensor and to pass these data through amotion model stored locally in the memory module to identify aconsumption event; a feedback element, such as in the form of a lightelement (e.g., an LED) and/or haptic module (e.g., a vibrator), arrangedin the housing and configured to output a signal indicating a state ofthe controller; a wireless communication module configured to transmitconsumption event data to an affiliated mobile computing device; and abattery configured to power the foregoing modules, such as over a periodof one or more years.

A transient attachment interface can also be coupled to the innersurface of the housing, thereby enabling the tracker to be removed fromone supplement package and installed on another supplement package overtime. For example, one element of a two-part hook-and-loop attachmentsystem can be (permanently) adhered to the inner surface of the housing;a second element of the two-part hook-and-loop attachment system can bemanually applied to a side of a supplement package; and the tracker canthen be placed over the second element to transiently couple the trackerto the supplement package. When the supplement package is empty, thesupplement package can be discarded with the second element. Anotherinstance of the second element can be manually installed on a secondsupplement package, and the tracker can be placed over the secondinstance of the second element to transiently couple the tracker to thesecond supplement package. Alternatively, the tracker can be installedwith double-sided tape, an elastic band, a suction cup, or any othertransient attachment system.

However, the tracker can include any other elements, can define anyother geometry, and can be transiently mounted to a supplement packagein any other way.

4. User Profile

Block S110 of the method recites initializing a user profile for a user;and Block S112 of the method recites populating the user profile withdemographic information of the user. Generally, in Blocks S110 and S112,the system generates a new user profile for a new user and aggregatesdemographic and/or biometric data of the user from one or more sources,such as existing external sources.

In one implementation, the native application: prompts the user to loginto an external online social network through the native application;and then pulls the user's age and gender (and other demographic data)from the user's profile on the external online social network. In thisimplementation, the native application can also: prompt the user toenable access to a health- and wellness-related native application alsoexecuting on the user's mobile computing device; and then pull weight,height, activity level, and other demographic and biometric data of theuser from this health- and wellness-related native application. Thenative application can additionally or alternatively prompt the user tomanually select these characteristics from dropdown or other menus. Thenative application can also prompt the user to select her current dietplan, such as pescetarian diet, vegetarian diet, vegan diet, raw-fooddiet, Mediterranean diet, etc. However, the native application cancollect any other existing user data automatically or prompt the user tomanually enter any other data in Blocks S110 and S112.

The system (e.g., the native application) can then associate the userwith various demographic groups or “buckets.” For example, the systemcan calculate the user's BMI and place the user in one of variousquantitative or qualitative BMI groups (e.g., underweight, healthy,overweight, obese, and extremely obese). In another example, the systemcan: collect max daily heart rate, average number of steps per day,average or maximum duration of daily sedentary periods, intensity andduration of daily activities, etc. from the health- and wellness-relatednative application; transform these data into a qualitative measure ofactivity level; and then place the user in one of various quantitativeor qualitative activity level groups (e.g., very active, moderatelyactive, low activity, and not active). The system can similarly groupthe user by gender and age.

The system can thus construct a user profile for the user in Block S110and populate this user profile with representations of variousqualitative and/or quantitative characteristics of the user in BlockS112.

5. User Goals

One variation of the method includes Block S114, which recitespopulating the user profile with a health goal selected by the user at anative application executing on a computing device. Generally, in BlockS114, the system can collect a health goal entered manually by the userthrough the native application and then store this health goal in theuser's profile.

In one implementation, the native application serves a prepopulated listof health goals to the user, such as in the form of icons representing:increase energy level; increase focus; weight loss; increase musclegrowth; improve sleep quality; etc. The native application can thenrecord selection of one or more of these health goals and write thesehealth goals to the user's profile in Block S114. Later, the system cancompare these health goals to known effects or correlation outcomes ofsupplements considered by the user in Block 120 or loaded into theuser's profile in Block S160 to gauge relevance of these supplements tothe user.

6. Viewing New Supplements

Block S120 of the method recites, in response to selection of a firstsupplement, from a set of known supplements, by the user at the nativeapplication, retrieving a first supplement profile of the firstsupplement. Generally, in Block S120, the native application accesses asupplement profile of a supplement of interest selected by the user,such as a supplement profile specific to a particular SKU (i.e., asupplement by a particular brand or manufacturer, in a particularformat, and supplied in a supplement package of a particular size) or ageneric supplement profile for the particular supplement or genericsupplement type.

6.1 Optical Scan

In one implementation, to load a new supplement to the user account, theuser records a photographic image or a camera feed (i.e., a “scan”) of abarcode or other label on the supplement package. The native applicationaccesses this image or a camera feed, implements computer visiontechniques to extract an identifier (e.g., a SKU) of the supplementpackage from this image or camera feed, and retrieves a supplementprofile associated with this identifier from a remote supplementdatabase. For example, the supplement profile can specify: a name of thesupplement; a format of the supplement (e.g., capsule form, powder,etc.); a size of one dose of the supplement (e.g., 100 milligrams perpill, 30 grams per scoop, etc.); a packaging format and size of thesupplement packaging (e.g., three-ounce amber glass bottle with dropperlid, eight-ounce white plastic jar with pop lid, five-liter whiteplastic jar with screw lid); ingredients; a consumption recommendationor regimen (e.g., recommended or maximum number of doses per day); etc.

6.2 Keyword Search

In another implementation, the user can manually enter search terms fora new supplement or supplement type into the native application—such asa name, size, or SKU of the supplement or supplement package—and thenative application can retrieve a supplement profile of a supplementselected from results of the user's search.

6.3 Social Connection

In yet another implementation, the native application can access thesocial network to enable the user to view supplements loaded intoprofiles of other users, such as friends, family, and otheracquaintances of the user. The user can thus select a supplement shownin another user's profile to copy the supplement into the user's ownprofile; the native application can retrieve a corresponding supplementprofile, as described above.

Alternatively, another user within the social network may send (e.g.,“push”) supplement data from her user account to the user's account,such as in the form of a name of the supplement, a SKU or otheridentifier of the supplement, a supplement profile of the supplement,and/or her regimen for consuming the supplement. Upon receipt of thesesupplement data from the other user at the user's account, the user can:reject the supplement; accept the supplement and regiment to load theregiment directly into her virtual shelf (described below) and thenmanually enter changes to the regimen; or open the supplement profile toview more information regarding the supplement before accepting orrejecting the supplement.

7. Supplement Data

Once the user selects a supplement of interest and the system retrievesa corresponding supplement profile in Block S120, the native applicationcan present to the user graphical and/or textual information pertainingto consumption of the supplement within the user network, scientificresearch relating to ingredients in the supplement, and reviews or otherfeedback provided by other users who have consumed the supplement in thepast.

7.1 Popularity/Trends Among Users

One variation of the method includes: Block S140, which recitescalculating a prevalence of the first supplement by demographic within apopulation of users; and Block S142, which recites rendering arepresentation of prevalence of the first supplement by demographicwithin the native application. Generally, in Blocks S140 and S142, thesystem can communicate to the user how many other users in the usernetwork globally or in the user's connections in the user networkspecifically currently consume the supplement of interest and theirdemographics.

In one implementation, the remote computer system: maintains one userprofile per user within the user network, including static and dynamicdemographic information that may change over time (e.g., age, gender,BMI, activity level); collects supplement consumption data from eachuser's instance of the native application, which interfaces withtrackers to automatically record consumption events; and maintains a logof which supplements each user has consumed, when, and in what quantity.By cross-referencing supplement profiles for these supplements, whichindicate types and quantities of ingredients (e.g., compounds) in thesesupplements, the system can estimate quantities of a large number (e.g.,hundreds, thousands) of ingredients consumed by users in the usernetwork over time.

The system can then: identify a primary ingredient in the supplement ofinterest from its supplement profile; and extract trends between userdemographics and consumption of this ingredient over time across theuser network. For example, the system can determine that the primaryingredient or compound in the supplement of interest has historicallybeen consumed with greatest prevalence by [very active] [male users]with [BMIs between 20 and 22].

The system can implement similar methods and techniques to isolategreatest historical prevalence of consumption of other ingredients inthe supplement of interest to particular combinations of demographicsand then calculate a linear combination of historical prevalence forthese various ingredients into a single set of demographics.

The system can additionally or alternatively extract a trend between aparticular set of demographics and greatest prevalence of consumption ofa primary ingredient (or combination of ingredients) in the supplementof interest across the user network at the current time (i.e., ratherthan historically).

The system can additionally or alternatively extract a trend between aparticular set of demographics and greatest prevalence of consumption ofa type of the supplement of interest (e.g., generic vitamin C) or thesupplement of interest specifically (e.g., of a particular type andformat from a particular manufacturer) across all users in the usernetwork over time or at the current time.

However, the system can implement any other method or technique toidentify a set of demographics (e.g., age, gender, BMI, and activitylevel) that currently or that have historically exhibited greatestconsumption of one or more ingredients in the supplement or greatestconsumption of the supplement specifically. The native application canthen render a textual description and/or graphic indicators (e.g.,icons) that represent this set of demographics for inter-networkconsumption related to the supplement of interest. Furthermore, thenative application can: similarly render a textual description and/orgraphic indicators that represent the user's demographics; and highlightalignment or misalignment between the inter-network demographics relatedto the supplement of interest and the user's demographics, therebyproviding the user rapid feedback regarding relevance of the supplementto the user.

The system can implement similar methods and techniques to: identify aset of demographics that currently or that have historically exhibitedgreatest consumption of one or more ingredients in the supplement orgreatest consumption of the supplement specifically within a subset ofother users connected to the user (e.g., the user's friends, family, andother users followed by the user); and then communicate this set ofdemographics to the user.

7.2 Scientific Data

Another variation of the method includes: Block S130, which recitesextrapolating a degree of an effect of the first supplement on thehealth goal from a scientific study based on an ingredient of the firstsupplement specified in the first supplement profile; and Block S132,which recites rendering a representation of the degree of the effectwithin the native application. Generally, in this variation, the systemcan aggregate available scientific data related to one or moreingredients in the supplement of interest and present these data to theuser in a compressed (textual and/or graphical) format within the nativeapplication.

In one implementation, the system identifies a primary ingredient in thesupplement of interest from the corresponding software program profileand scans a corpus of scientific publications for a set of scientificpublications that reference the primary ingredient, such as scientificstudies directly and/or news articles referencing these scientificstudies. The system can then: flag this set of scientific publicationsfor manual recordation of correlations between the primary ingredientand a user outcome by a human reviewer; or automatically extract suchcorrelations from these scientific publications, such as by implementingnatural language processing (“NLP”) techniques.

The system can then aggregate these correlations—recorded manually by ahuman reviewer or extracted automatically by the system—between theprimary ingredient and a degree of correlation (e.g., low, medium, orhigh correlation) to a particular outcome, such as improved sleep,reduced anxiety, weight loss, increased activity level, or improvedfocus, etc. For example, the system can calculate a linear combination(e.g., an average) of correlations between consumption of the primaryingredient and a particular outcome extracted from multiple scientificstudies—weighted according to sample sizes noted in these studies—tooutput a degree or confidence in correlation between the primaryingredient and the outcome.

The system can then generate a visual summary of this correlation, suchas with links to supporting or exemplary scientific studies, and thenserve this visual summary to the user via the native application.

Furthermore, the system can predict an effect of the supplement on theuser based on these scientific data. For example, the system can:generate a first-order prediction for a type of outcome effected byconsumption of the supplement of interest that contains this primaryingredient; generate a second-order prediction for a degree of thepredicted outcome based on an amount of the primary ingredient per doseof the supplement of interest, a recommend number of daily doses of thesupplement of interest, (the user's weight or BMI,) and a correlationbetween quantity of the supplement of interest and degree of effectsuggested in the scientific data; and serve these predicted effects tothe user through the native application to inform the user of an effectshe may anticipate upon beginning consumption of the supplement. In thisexample, the native application can render a textual or graphicalrepresentation of the degree of the outcome or effect on the user uponconsumption of the supplement of interest over time adjacent a textualor graphical representation of a most similar health goal selected bythe user in Block S114 in order to indicate to the user a strength ofalignment between the supplement of interest and the user's health goal.

As described above, the system can collect and store user demographicand consumption event data for users in the user network over time. Thesystem can also implement methods and techniques similar to thosedescribed above to: extract trends in various fields (e.g., weight, BMI,activity level, sleep quality, focus, etc.) across a population of userswithin the user network; and to extract correlations between thesetrends (i.e., outcomes, effects) and consumption of the primaryingredient, such as based on quantity and frequency of consumption ofthe primary ingredient across the population of users. For example, thesystem can implement machine learning or regression techniques toidentify a correlation (and a strength of this correlation) between:adherence to a regimen for a supplement containing the primaryingredient and frequencies and amounts of the primary ingredientconsumed by a subset of users in the user network; and a change in ademographic or other field among this subset of users over a period oftime. The system can thus handle demographic and consumption event datacollected from users in the network as raw study data and thenautomatically process these data to extract correlations betweeningredients consumed by users in the network and changes to theirdemographics and/or other monitors fields (e.g., BMI, sleep quality,activity level, focus, etc.).

The system can implement similar methods and techniques to extractcorrelations between multiple other ingredients noted in the supplementof interest and multiple other possible outcomes from scientific dataand intra-network data and to package these correlations for visualconsumption by the user while considering the supplement of interest.

7.3 User Comments and Reviews

Another variation of the method incudes Block S150, which recitesrendering a set of reviews of the first supplement within the nativeapplication, wherein the set of reviews was submitted by a subset ofusers within the population of users, and wherein each user in thesubset of users is associated with a user profile linked to the firstsupplement for greater than a threshold duration of time. Generally, inBlock S150, the native application can: qualify reviews of thesupplement of interest (or of the supplement type of the supplement ofinterest, an ingredient in the supplement of interest, etc.) submittedby other users based on whether these other users have the same orsimilar supplements loaded into their user profiles, the degree to whichthese users have adhered to their regimens for these supplements, andthe duration over which these users have consumed the same or similarsupplements; and then selectively reveal these reviews of the supplementof interest (or of the supplement type of the supplement of interest, aningredient in the supplement of interest, etc.) based on quality ofthese reviews, thereby enabling the user to access user feedbackprovided by other users in the user network most likely to provideinformed opinions related to the supplement of interest.

In one implementation, the system tracks a user's consumption of asupplement and adherence to a corresponding regimen over time andpermits the user to submit a review of the supplement only once certainconditions are met. For example, the system can: track consumption of asupplement and adherence to a regimen for this supplement by a user overtime through an instance of the tracker transiently installed on asupplement package containing doses of this supplement; and permit thisuser to submit a review of the supplement only once the user hasachieved at least a minimum adherence (e.g., 80% adherence) to areasonable regimen (e.g., at least one consumption event per day) over aminimum duration of time (e.g., two months). The system can implementthis process across the entire user network for all known supplementsloaded into user profiles in the user network.

The system can additionally or alternatively rank reviews submitted byusers in the user network based on tracked consumption of thesesupplements by users. For example, for a particular supplement,particular supplement type, or particular supplement ingredient, thesystem can aggregate reviews of this particular supplement, particularsupplement type, or supplements containing this particular ingredientsubmitted by users in the user network and then rank these reviews by: anumber of consumption events recorded for a user for the reviewedsupplement; a duration of time over which each user achieved minimumadherence to a regimen for a supplement she reviewed; a degree of auser's adherence to a regimen for a supplement she reviewed; a totalquantity of a reviewed supplement consumed by a user; etc.

For another user considering adding a supplement of interest to her userprofile, the system can thus: aggregate and rank reviews related to thesupplement of interest, to a particular type of supplement of interest,or to a particular ingredient in the supplement of interest; and serve alimited number of the highest-ranked reviews to the user through thenative application in Block S150, thereby enabling the user to accessfeedback from other users who have consumed the supplement of interestor like supplements in the past.

8. Insertion of Supplement Profile into User Profile

Block S160 of the method recites, in response to confirmation of thefirst supplement profile at the native application, adding the firstsupplement profile to the user profile. Generally, in Block S160, thesystem can load an instance of the supplement profile of the supplementof interest into the user's profile once confirmed by the user and inpreparation for defining a regimen for consumption of the supplement bythe user. For example, the native application can host a “virtual shelf”containing graphical representations of supplements loaded into theuser's profile and then update the virtual shelf with a graphicalrepresentation of the supplement of interest once confirmed by the userin Block S160. Once the supplement is added to the user's profile, thenative application can also guide the user in placing a tracker on asupplement package containing the supplement and then linking thistracker to a supplement profile in the user's profile. Once the trackeris installed on the supplement package, the native application caninterface with the tracker to track the user's consumption of thesupplement over time.

9. Regimen

In one variation, upon insertion of a supplement profile into the user'saccount, the native application can write a regimen for consuming thesupplement to the supplement profile within the user's profile.

In one implementation, the native application automatically loads adefault recommended regimen for the supplement from a supplementmanufacturer into the supplement profile; the native application canthen interface with the user to modify this default recommended regimen,such as to define specific times or time windows for a default number ofrecommended daily consumption events for the supplement or to adjust anumber of daily consumption events for the supplement, as shown inFIG. 1. For example, the default regimen can specify consumption of thesupplement twice per day, including once between the hours of 7 AM and 8AM and again between the hours of 7 PM and 8 PM; the native applicationcan then interface with the user to adjust the time windows to 6 AM to 7AM and to 4 PM to 6 PM.

In another implementation, the native application can: access a portalinto the user network; enable the user to navigate to a profile of afriend, family member, or other connection and to select a regimen forthe same (or similar) supplement from this other profile; copy theregimen from this other profile into the supplement profile in theuser's account; and then enable the user to manually adjust parametersof this supplement profile, such as target times, time windows, days ofthe week, and dose size for consumption events specified in the regimen.

In a similar implementation, the system compiles (e.g., averages)regimens for the supplement (or for an ingredient contained in thesupplement) across a subset of users in the user network who exhibitsimilar characteristics (e.g., age, gender, BMI, activity level, etc.)and who have consumed the same (or similar) supplement for at least aminimum duration (e.g., two months) and with a minimum adherence (e.g.,80%) to their selected regimens to form a regimen for consumption of thesupplement by the user.

In yet another implementation, the system can extract a recommendedregimen for consumption of the supplement based on: supportingscientific data, as described above; the user's health goals recorded inBlock S114; various user characteristics; and/or the quantity of aparticular ingredient contained in each dose of the supplement.

However, the native application can implement any other method ortechnique to define, import, and/or customize a regimen for consumptionof a supplement by the user and to link this regimen to a supplementprofile in the user's account.

10. Reordering

In another variation, the system can: track an amount of a supplementremaining in a current supplement package; and automatically order a newsupplement package containing this supplement once the currentsupplement package is (nearly) empty or automatically recommend analternate supplement to the user, such as based on a change incharacteristics of the user or new internal or external scientific data.

10.1 Supplement Package Fill Level

In one implementation, the system: retrieves an original weight ofsupplement, volume of supplement, or number of supplement pills, etc.contained in the full supplement package, such as from the supplementprofile once loaded in the user account; retrieves a standard dose sizefor the supplement from the supplement profile; and calculates a numberof standard-sized doses in the supplement package accordingly.Alternatively, the system can retrieve a total number of standard-sizeddoses in the supplement package directly from the supplement profile.Over time, the system can sum a number of consumption events associatedwith the supplement since the current supplement package was linked tothe tracker and subtract this sum from the total number ofstandard-sized doses in the supplement package to determine a currentfill level of the supplement package. The system (e.g., the nativeapplication) can thus maintain an estimate of a remaining quantity ofsupplement in the supplement package.

Alternatively, in addition to outputting a confidence score that aconsumption event occurred, the motion model can also transform a motionof the supplement package during a consumption into an estimate of thefill level of the supplement package and output this estimate to thenative application when the tracker wirelessly connects to the mobilecomputing device. In particular, motion of the supplement package duringa consumption event may be unique to a fill level of the supplementpackage (and the package type and supplement format); the motion modelcan thus leverage motion of the supplement—detected by sensors in thetracker—to estimate the fill level of the supplement package; thetracker can then output this fill level to the native application, whichcan selectively execute a reorder routine accordingly.

The native application can additionally or alternatively enable the userto manually indicate a fill level of the supplement package, such as: byexplicitly adjusting a slider within the supplement profile in theuser's profile to indicate the fill level in the current supplementpackage; explicitly noting the current supplement package as emptywithin the supplement profile; or implicitly by initiating a pairingroutine to link a tracker associated with the current supplement packageto another supplement package containing the same supplement.

10.2 Actual Dose Size for User

Upon receipt of an indication from the user that a current supplementpackage is empty, the system can divide a total amount of supplement inthe package by the total number of consumption events recorded at thesupplement package since it was initially linked to the user's accountin order to calculate an actual dose size for the supplement by theuser. The system can then implement this actual dose size to estimatefill level of supplement packages containing the same supplement andlinked to the user's account in the future.

10.3 Reordering and Supplement Changes

When the system determines that a current supplement package linked tothe user's profile is (nearly) empty, the system can automaticallyinitiate a reorder routine to either: order another unit of thesupplement package on behalf of the user; or recommend an alternativesupplement to the user based on data collected from the user over time,feedback from other users in the user network, and/or recent scientificdata related to the supplement or its contents. For example, the nativeapplication can: predict a time to complete exhaustion of the currentsupplement package based on the estimated amount of supplement remainingin the supplement package and upcoming consumption events specified in aregimen for the supplement in the user's profile; estimate a duration oftime to receipt of a replacement supplement package containing the samesupplement based on current availability; and then execute the reorderroutine when the estimated duration of time to receive a replacementsupplement package exceeds the time to complete exhaustion of thecurrent supplement package.

In one implementation, during a reorder routine, the system: accessesrecent data collected from the user, such as daily step count, dailyactivity, weight, sleep, and/or other data; recalculates userdemographics or other fields or characteristics of the user based onthese data; and/or prompts the user to confirm or adjust her healthgoals through the native application. The system can then recalculate acorrelation (e.g., low, medium, or high correlation) between consumptionof an ingredient in the supplement and a particular outcome, such asnoted in the user's confirmed health goals, in light of new scientificdata and/or additional user data collected since the user first linkedthis supplement package to her user profile. The system can alsoidentify other supplements that similar users or users exhibitingsimilar demographic changes over time have switched to.

Based on the foregoing data, the system can then implement the foregoingmethods and techniques to qualify or quantify current relevance of thesupplement to the user. For example, the system can calculate a scorefor relevance of a primary ingredient in the supplement to the user'scurrent demographic and/or current health goals. The system can alsodetermine whether the supplement contains any compounds shown to bedeleterious to the user in light of the user's current demographic andhealth goals. If the relevance of the supplement to the user hasdiminished (e.g., dropped below a threshold), the system can scansupplement profiles and related internal and external data of othersupplements for a second supplement that may be more relevant to theuser; recommend this second supplement to the user in place of theoriginal supplement through the native application; and providesupporting evidence, such as in textual and/or graphical form,supporting this recommendation through the native application.

If the user confirms the recommended second supplement, the system canautomatically submit an order for a supplement package containing thesecond supplement in place of the original supplement and load asupplement profile for the second supplement into the user's profile, asdescribed above. However, if the user declines the second supplement orif the current supplement remains relevant to the user's demographicand/or stated health goals, the system can automatically submit an orderfor another supplement package containing the original supplement.(Alternatively, the native application can serve a prompt to the user tomanually purchase a supplement package containing the second supplementor the original supplement, such as with a link to an online websitewhere the supplement package is available or indicating a localbrick-and-mortal shop that stocks the supplement package.)

Therefore, the system can serve guidance to the user for maintaining oraltering her supplement regimen as a current supplement package nearsexhaustion, thereby limiting supplement waste while also maintainingstrong alignment between the user's needs and goals and supplements sheis consuming over time.

The systems and methods described herein can be embodied and/orimplemented at least in part as a machine configured to receive acomputer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions. Theinstructions can be executed by computer-executable componentsintegrated with the application, applet, host, server, network, website,communication service, communication interface,hardware/firmware/software elements of a user computer or mobile device,wristband, smartphone, or any suitable combination thereof. Othersystems and methods of the embodiment can be embodied and/or implementedat least in part as a machine configured to receive a computer-readablemedium storing computer-readable instructions. The instructions can beexecuted by computer-executable components integrated bycomputer-executable components integrated with apparatuses and networksof the type described above. The computer-readable medium can be storedon any suitable computer readable media such as RAMs, ROMs, flashmemory, EEPROMs, optical devices (CD or DVD), hard drives, floppydrives, or any suitable device. The computer-executable component can bea processor but any suitable dedicated hardware device can(alternatively or additionally) execute the instructions.

As a person skilled in the art will recognize from the previous detaileddescription and from the figures and claims, modifications and changescan be made to the embodiments of the invention without departing fromthe scope of this invention as defined in the following claims.

I claim:
 1. A method for managing supplement consumption comprises:initializing a user profile for a user; populating the user profile witha first demographic value of the user; populating the user profile witha first health goal selected by the user at a graphical user interfaceexecuting on a computing device; retrieving a first supplement profileof a first supplement selected, from a population of supplements, by theuser; extracting an identifier of a first ingredient, in the firstsupplement, from the first supplement profile; identifying a firstsubset of user profiles, in a population of user profiles affiliatedwith a population of users, specifying the first demographic value andthe first health goal; deriving a first correlation between the firsthealth goal and the first ingredient for the first demographic valuebased on the first subset of user profiles; calculating a firstrelevance of the first supplement for the user based on the firstcorrelation; accessing a corpus of scientific publications; scanning thecorpus of scientific publications for a set of scientific publicationscontaining the identifier of the first ingredient; extracting a secondcorrelation between the first ingredient and the first health goal fromthe set of scientific publications; extrapolating a magnitude of apredicted effect of the first supplement on the first health goal forthe user based on the second correlation; accessing a set of reviewsspecifying the first supplement and submitted by users associated withthe population of user profiles; for each review in the set of reviews,calculating a score of the review based on: quality of adherence of anextant user, associated with the review, to a regimen specifying thefirst supplement; and a duration of consumption of the first supplementby the extant user; and selecting a subset of reviews exhibiting highestscores in the set of reviews; at the graphical user interface executingon the computing device: receiving, by the user, a selection of thefirst health goal; rendering a first representation of the relevance ofthe first supplement within the graphical user interface; rendering asecond representation of the magnitude of the predicted effect withinthe graphical user interface; presenting the subset of reviews to theuser within the graphical user interface; and receiving, by the user, aconfirmation of the first supplement; and in response to receiving theconfirmation of the first supplement at the graphical user interface,adding the first supplement to the user profile.
 2. The method of claim1: wherein rendering the second representation of the magnitude of thepredicted effect within the graphical user interface comprises renderingthe second representation of the magnitude of the predicted effectwithin the graphical user interface concurrently with the firstrepresentation of the relevance of the first supplement; and whereinpresenting the subset of reviews to the user within the graphical userinterface comprises presenting the subset of reviews, ordered by score,within the graphical user interface concurrently with the firstrepresentation and the second representation.
 3. A method for managingsupplement consumption comprises executing computer-readableinstructions on a computer-readable medium of a computing device, theinstructions comprising: initializing a user profile for a user with afirst demographic value of the user; receiving a selection of a firsthealth goal by the user at a graphical user interface executing on thecomputing device; populating the user profile with the first healthgoal; retrieving a first supplement profile of a first supplementselected, from a population of supplements, by the user from asupplement database; identifying a first ingredient in the firstsupplement based on the first supplement profile; identifying a firstsubset of user profiles, in a population of user profiles, specifyingthe first demographic value and the first health goal; deriving a firstcorrelation between the first health goal and the first ingredient forthe first demographic value based on a frequency of user profiles, inthe first subset of user profiles, that specify the first ingredient;calculating a first relevance of the first supplement for the user basedon the first correlation; generating a first graphical representation ofthe first relevance; rendering the first graphical representation forthe first user at the graphical user interface; and in response toreceiving a confirmation by the user of the first supplement at thegraphical user interface, adding the first supplement profile to theuser profile.
 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising: identifying,from a corpus of scientific publications, a set of scientificpublications that reference the first ingredient; extracting a secondcorrelation between the first ingredient and the first health goal fromthe set of scientific publications; extrapolating a magnitude of aneffect of the first supplement on the first health goal based on thesecond correlation; rendering a second representation of the magnitudeof the effect within the graphical user interface concurrently with thefirst graphical representation; accessing a set of reviews specifyingthe first supplement and submitted by users associated with thepopulation of user profiles; for each review in the set of reviews,calculating a score of the review based on: a quality of adherence of anextant user, associated with the review, to a regimen specifying thefirst supplement; and a duration of consumption of the first supplementby the extant user; and selecting a subset of reviews exhibiting highestscores in the set of reviews; and presenting the subset of reviews tothe user within the graphical user interface concurrently with the firstgraphical representation.
 5. The method of claim 3, wherein deriving thefirst correlation between the first health goal and the first ingredientfor the first demographic value comprises: identifying a second subsetof user profiles, in the first subset of user profiles, specifyingadherence to regimens for a set of supplements comprising the firstingredient greater than a threshold adherence for durations of timegreater than a threshold duration; and deriving the first correlationbetween the first health goal and the first ingredient for the firstdemographic value based on the frequency of the second subset of userprofiles in the first subset of user profiles.
 6. The method of claim 3,wherein deriving the first correlation between the first health goal andthe first ingredient for the first demographic value comprises:identifying a second subset of user profiles, in the first subset ofuser profiles, indicating transition from the first demographic value toa second demographic value associated with the first health goal;identifying a third subset of user profiles, in the first subset of userprofiles, specifying adherence to regimens for a set of supplementscomprising the first ingredient greater than a threshold adherence fordurations of time greater than a threshold duration; and deriving thefirst correlation between the first health goal and the first ingredientfor the first demographic value based on frequencies of the secondsubset of user profiles and the third subset of user profiles in thefirst subset of user profiles.
 7. The method of claim 3: whereinderiving the first correlation comprises deriving a trend between thefirst health goal and prevalence of consumption of the first ingredientacross the first subset of user profiles; wherein calculating the firstrelevance of the first supplement for the user comprises characterizinga difference between the first health goal and the first demographicvalue of the user and the trend; and wherein generating the firstgraphical representation of the first relevance comprises generating thefirst graphical representation indicating the trend.
 8. The method ofclaim 3, further comprising: identifying a set of user profiles, in thepopulation of user profiles, connected to the user profile within anonline user network; accessing a set of virtual shelves within the setof user profiles; presenting a subset of supplements, in the populationof supplements, specified in the set of virtual shelves; transmitting aprompt to the user to select from the set of supplements at thegraphical user interface; and receiving the selection of the firstsupplement in the set of supplements at the graphical user interface. 9.The method of claim 3: further comprising transmitting a notificationfrom a second user to the user within an online user network at thegraphical user interface, the notification comprising a recommendationfor the first supplement generated by the second user; and whereinretrieving the first supplement profile of the first supplementcomprises retrieving the first supplement profile of the firstsupplement in response to receiving a confirmation of the notificationby the user at the graphical user interface.
 10. The method of claim 3:identifying, from the corpus of scientific publications, the set ofscientific publications that reference the first ingredient, furthercomprising: automatically extracting a second correlation between thefirst ingredient and the first health goal from the set of scientificpublications; wherein calculating the first relevance comprisescalculating the first relevance of the first supplement for the userfurther based on the second correlation; and further comprisingpresenting a set of links to the set of scientific publications, inassociation with the first supplement, at the graphical user interface.11. The method of claim 1: wherein automatically extracting the secondcorrelation from the set of scientific publications comprisesautomatically extracting the second correlation, between the firstingredient and an outcome associated with the first health goal, fromthe set of scientific publications; further comprising: calculating afirst prediction for the outcome effected by consumption of the firstsupplement by the user; and calculating a second prediction for amagnitude of the outcome for the user based on an amount of the firstingredient per dose of the first supplement, the first demographic valueof the user, and the second correlation; and wherein generating thefirst graphical representation comprises generating the first graphicalrepresentation depicting the first prediction for the outcome and thesecond prediction for the magnitude of the outcome.
 12. The method ofclaim 3, further comprising: accessing a set of reviews specifying thefirst supplement and submitted by users associated with the populationof user profiles; for each review in the set of reviews, calculating ascore of the review based on: quality of adherence of an extant user,associated with the review, to a regimen specifying the firstsupplement; and a duration of consumption of the first supplement by theextant user; selecting a subset of reviews exhibiting highest scores inthe set of reviews; and presenting the subset of reviews to the userwith the first graphical representation.
 13. The method of claim 3,further comprising, in response to receiving a confirmation by the userof the first supplement at the graphical user interface: presenting thefirst subset of user profiles to the user at the graphical userinterface; transmitting a prompt to the user to select from the firstsubset of user profiles at the graphical user interface; and in responseto receiving a selection by the user of a particular user profile fromthe first subset of user profiles at the graphical user interface,importing a regimen for the first supplement from the particular userprofile into the user profile, the regimen specifying a schedule forconsuming doses of the first supplement.
 14. The method of claim 3,further comprising: in response to receiving a confirmation by the userof the first supplement at the graphical user interface, associating atracker, coupled to a first supplement package containing the firstsupplement, with the user profile; receiving a sequence of consumptionevent records from the tracker over a first time period; determining afill level of the first supplement package based on the sequence ofconsumption event records received from the tracker; in response to thefill level of the first supplement package falling below a thresholdfill level, transmitting a prompt to the user to confirm the firsthealth goal via the graphical user interface; in response to the userelecting a second health goal: identifying a second subset of userprofiles, in the population of user profiles, specifying the firstdemographic value and the second health goal; deriving a secondcorrelation between the second health goal and the first ingredient forthe first demographic value based on a second frequency of userprofiles, in the second subset of user profiles, that specify the firstingredient; calculating a second relevance of the first supplement forthe user based on the first demographic and the second health goal; andin response to the second relevance falling below the first relevanceand in response to the fill level of the first supplement packagefalling below a threshold fill level, serving a recommendation to theuser to elect an alternate supplement within the graphical userinterface.
 15. The method of claim 3, further comprising: based on theuser confirming the first supplement, associating a tracker, coupled toa first supplement package containing the first supplement, with theuser profile; receiving a sequence of consumption event records from thetracker over a time period; tracking a fill level of the firstsupplement package based on the sequence of consumption event records;deriving a second demographic value of the user based on data collectedduring the time period; identifying a second subset of user profiles, inthe population of user profiles, specifying the second demographic valueand the first health goal; deriving a second correlation between thefirst health goal and the first ingredient for the second demographicvalue based on a second frequency of user profiles, in the second subsetof user profiles, that specify the first ingredient; calculating asecond relevance of the first supplement for the user based on thesecond demographic and the first health goal; and in response to thesecond relevance falling below the first relevance and in response tothe fill level of the first supplement package falling below a thresholdfill level, serving a recommendation to the user to elect an alternatesupplement within the graphical user interface.
 16. The method of claim15: wherein serving the recommendation to the user to elect thealternate supplement within the graphical user interface comprises, inresponse to the second relevance falling below the first relevance:scanning supplement profiles, of supplements in the population ofsupplements, for a second supplement comprising a second ingredientexhibiting a third relevance to the user greater than the secondrelevance based on the second demographic value of the user; and inresponse to the fill level of the first supplement package falling belowthe threshold fill level, transmitting a prompt to the user to elect thesecond supplement in place of the first supplement via the graphicaluser interface; and further comprising, in response to receiving aconfirmation by the user of the first supplement at the graphical userinterface: replacing the first supplement profile within the secondsupplement profile in the user profile; and initiating an order for asecond supplement package containing the second supplement.
 17. Themethod of claim 15: wherein populating the user profile with the firstdemographic value comprises populating the user profile with the firstdemographic value representing a first activity level reported by theuser; and wherein deriving the second demographic value of the usercomprises deriving the second demographic value representing a secondactivity level, greater than the first activity level, based on motiondata collected by a wearable device, associated with the user profile,during the time period.
 18. The method of claim 3, further comprising:generating a regimen for the first supplement for the user, the regimenspecifying a schedule for consuming doses of the first supplement; andtransmitting, at the graphical user interface, to the user a set ofnotifications over a first time period in accordance with the schedulefor consuming doses.
 19. A method for managing supplement consumptioncomprises: initializing a user profile for a user; populating the userprofile with a first demographic value of the user; receiving aselection by the user of a first health goal at a graphical userinterface executing on a computing device; populating the user profilewith the first health goal; retrieving a first supplement profile of afirst supplement selected, from a population of supplements, by the userfrom a supplement database; calculating a first relevance of the firstsupplement for the user based on the first demographic and the firsthealth goal; presenting the first relevance to the user at the graphicaluser interface; in response to receiving a confirmation by the user forthe first supplement at the graphical user interface: adding the firstsupplement profile to the user profile; and associating a tracker,coupled to a first supplement package containing the first supplement,with the user profile, the tracker comprising a motion sensor andconfigured to transmit consumption event data of the first supplement tothe computing device, wherein the consumption event data is based onmotion data of the first supplement package; receiving a sequence ofconsumption event records from the tracker over a first time period;determining a fill level of the first supplement package based on thesequence of consumption event records received from the tracker;deriving a second demographic value of the user based on data collectedduring the first time period; calculating a second relevance of thefirst supplement for the user based on the second demographic value andthe first health goal; in response to the second relevance falling belowthe first relevance and in response to the fill level of the firstsupplement package falling below a threshold fill level, serving arecommendation to the user to elect an alternate supplement within thegraphical user interface.
 20. The method of claim 19: wherein servingthe recommendation to the user to elect the alternate supplement withinthe graphical user interface comprises, in response to the secondrelevance falling below the first relevance: identifying supplementprofiles, of supplements in the population of supplements from thesupplement database, for a second supplement comprising a secondingredient exhibiting a third relevance to the user greater than thesecond relevance based on the second demographic value of the user; andin response to the fill level of the first supplement package fallingbelow the threshold fill level, transmitting a prompt to the user toelect the second supplement in place of the first supplement via thegraphical user interface; and further comprising, in response toreceiving the confirmation by the user for the first supplement at thegraphical user interface: replacing the first supplement profile withthe second supplement profile in the user profile; and initiating anorder for a second supplement package containing the second supplement.